The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Friday that it will reanalyze all 254 urine samples taken from Russian athletes who took part in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. The IOC said it had also extended the mandate of its own Oswald disciplinary commission to examine all samples collected from Russian athletes during the London Summer Olympics in 2012. The decisions were taken, the IOC said, following the publication Friday of Richard McLaren's full report into doping in Russia that revealed an "institutional conspiracy" by Moscow to cheat between 2011-15. All 63 blood samples collected from Russian athletes in Sochi have already been reanalyzed by the IOC in cooperation with McLaren. All came back negative. The IOC said the urine samples would be retested because "McLaren's mandate did not include a full reanalysis of all these samples". Turning to the London Games, the IOC said reanalysis of some of the Russian samples was already under way following intelligence provided by McLaren to the IOC. Eleven Russian athletes have already been sanctioned by the IOC as a result of the IOC's own re-analysis program, which began prior to the Rio Olympics and is ongoing. Russia digs deep into doping denial The report again left international division - Russia still denying there is any state involvement, while the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) called the findings "astonishing". No-one gave a sign that Russia is moving back toward full membership of the global sports community after McLaren's investigation said there was an "institutional conspiracy" to produce a Russian medal winning machine. "The Russian sports ministry with full responsibility states there are no government programs to support doping in sport," it said in a statement in response to the McLaren report. The ministry added that it "will continue the fight against doping with zero tolerance" and "carefully study the information contained in the report with the aim of coming up with a constructive position". Moscow has steadfastly denied any government backing for doping. But it has struggled to lift international doubts. Head of scandal-hit Russian federation re-elected Russia's scandal-ridden athletics federation Friday re-elected Dmitry Shlyakhtin president after Yelena Isinbayeva pulled out, as fresh revelations on state-run doping rocked sport in the country. Russia remains suspended by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) after it was kicked out in November 2015 over drug cheat allegations in a move that saw its athletes banned from international competition and miss the Rio Olympic Games. Two-time Olympic pole vault champion Isinbayeva withdrew from the running after this week being appointed head of the supervisory board of RUSADA, Russia's national anti-doping agency, which was suspended in the wake of the scandal. Shlyakhtin also saw off competition from ARAF general secretary Mikhail Butov and high jumper Andrei Silnov.
